Monthly Archives: June 2008

Bill 88 was laid out for all to see – it’s very interesting to see the path our education minister is trying to set here.

She is moving toward more participation from parents and communities, but the bigger question in my mind is whether we should have more participation or perhaps more educated participation.

Our Governing Boards have a lot of power right now – they perhaps just don’t know it. We need to work with our Governing Boards to make sure that they understand what their powers are and how they can best use them.

Textbooks – what can I say? PATENTLY RIDICULOUS that we don’t have for our cycle 3 high school students. I was at a parent’s committee meeting and someone likened the reform to someone putting their thesis together; with our kids being the test case. Whoops – they didn’t pass.

Behaviour? Well – I still see, almost daily, some sort of incident of some degree. Why can’t we just make a statement as to what we expect from our students, teachers, parents and administrators? This will be the question, yet again, at our next council meeting.

A lot of people ask me, “So – how do you like it, being a commissioner now?”

And my answer typically is, “Well, it’s frustrating, it takes a lot more time than I thought it would and yet still – I am hoping to help make a difference.”

It’s frustrating. I’m the new guy and I am a vocal guy – even *I* am tired of hearing me pipe up again at a meeting. Having said that, “I gotta do what I gotta do” – and really, isn’t that what we’re there for?

I have been accused of knocking everything. It’s simply not true – I *will* say when I think we can do something better – and again, isn’t that what we are there for? And I will keep my mouth shut when I don’t have anything that I consider of value to add to the process. I wish that some others would too.

People notice when something is said; they don’t notice when something isn’t. Ahh well – ’tis the way of the world.

It takes a lot of time. WOW – it takes a lot of time, and there are some commissioners who put in a lot more than me. Just take a look at the bottom of this page where I list most of the meetings and/or events that I have attended. For those people who don’t think commissioners do much? Well, it’s time to rethink that one. There actually is a lot of valuable work being done, by a lot of commissioners.

Can I make a difference? Maybe – I am still naive enough to think so. I need to learn how to get my points across without being abrasive. I need to learn how to give up on a point before it gets to flogging a dead horse. I need to learn a number of things. But, I still actually believe that I am having, and will have a net positive effect on our school board.

No meetings for the next little bit, so we can recharge the batteries a little. So much still to do…